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Home Secretary John Reid has pledged to put the national interest above any politician’s ego or departmental empire as radical plans to split the Home Office were floated.

In response to a question about plans to split the department, Mr Reid told GMTV: “Quite simply, we have to face up to the great challenges of today. They include mass immigration, organised crime and perhaps above all, international terrorism.

“It is our duty as a Government in these circumstances to look at all the options and to take the one which is the best for the protection of people, for the national security and for the public interest, not the interest of individual politicians, or their egos or their departmental empires, but to do what is best for the people of this country and their security.”

Mr Reid’s comments come after Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer confirmed on Sunday that the Home Office could be split in half in an attempt to put a halt to months of escalating problems.

Lord Falconer indicated that the “very, very serious proposal” could be completed quickly and said he felt its “time has come”.

The plan to divide responsibility for security and justice policy between two separate departments are to be put to the Cabinet by the under-fire Mr Reid.

A “national security department” would control anti-terror policy as well as the police and immigration, while a “ministry of justice” would oversee prisons, probation and the justice system.

It follows a string of blunders by the mammoth institution which he criticised as “not fit for purpose” soon after taking control last year.

But ex-home secretary David Blunkett issued a stark warning against the idea – saying it would favour victims and concentrate too much power in Downing Street.

And the Tories, who favour a more limited move to appoint a Cabinet minister to control anti-terror policy, dubbed it a “serious admission of failure”.